As At the Gates gear up for their next North American run in support of the comeback album, At War with Reality, vocalist Tomas Lindberg took a few minutes to talk to me about the album, the recent Paris terrorist attacks and more.

For my money, "El Altar Del Dios Desconocido" is one of the spookiest album intros I've ever heard. I asked Tomas where the track came from.

"It's a quote from an Argentinian writer from the '60's, Ernesto Sabato", he said of the intro. "Which is also an inspiration for a lot of the lyric material on the record."

"'Heroes and Tombs' is from one of his novels, for example" he added. "'The Conspiracy of the Blind' is a chapter of one of his books. South American writers just inspired me this time around."

You know, I keep updated on everything, because I really want to know what's going on, but in a way, it drains you.

With the Paris terrorist attacks still fresh on everyone's minds, I asked Tomas what the climate is like right now in Europe.

"It's strange because we have this refugee crisis here in Europe right now," he said. "There's such a humanitarian crisis on so many levels."

"You have a whole lot of terrorist threats, you have Instanbul now and Jakarta just happened, the Somalia airport has been sieged." Tomas added. "You know, I keep updated on everything, because I really want to know what's going on, but in a way, it drains you."

Nonetheless, At the Gates won't let the threat of violence keep them from touring.

"You don't give in to the fear." he said. "But, of course, when you go into a concert hall or a theater now, you see where the exit is."

At the Gates will make a stop in Dallas at Gas Monkey Live on Saturday, February 13. Get your tickets in advance here.

Keep up to date on all things At the Gates on their official website.

Hear the interview below:

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